Manchester United striker Danny Welbeck has been called up by Fabio Capello to
the England squad to face the Netherlands in a friendly at Wembley on
Wednesday.

The 20 year-old has come to the fore of the England manager’s thinking and has been elevated above Jermain Defoe. Welbeck has only appeared in eight Premier League games for United but after a successful season on loan at Sunderland last season, Sir Alex Ferguson has decided to include him in his first-team squad for this campaign.

Capello has long admired Welbeck. After his fine form of last winter, he had wanted to call him up for the friendly with Denmark in Copenhagen last February but a hamstring injury, sustained the month before, meant Welbeck had to wait until the March friendly with Ghana to win his first cap.

Welbeck has benefited from Aston Villa striker Darren Bent not being selected. The Aston Villa striker missed a glaring open goal against Switzerland but the reason for his omission is a slight fitness concern with his shoulder. With the Premier League starting next weekend, Capello did not want to take any risks.

Defoe has greater cause for concern. This time last year he had established himself in the first team in South Africa but after a season spent injured and on the periphery at Spurs, he has slid down the striking hierarchy.

Kyle Walker, the Tottenham right-back who had a loan spell at Aston Villa last season, could well win his first cap against the Dutch after Glen Johnson was injured yesterday. David Stockdale, the goalkeeper who joined Ipswich on loan from Fulham this summer, is the only other uncapped player in the squad.

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With strength in depth at centre-back, United’s Phil Jones did not make the cut from the provisional squad but should there be further withdrawals, then he may yet be called up.

Scott Parker has been selected despite dropping into the Championship with West Ham. Capello will attend the game at Upton Park today to assess Parker’s form and, in the long term, would prefer to see him back in the Premier League. “It is important for him to play in the Premier League,” Capello said. “I know he is really serious, a focused guy. If I find a really good player in the Championship I will pick him. Why not? But I hope for him and for me he will play in the Premier League.”

Capello has not ruled out selecting Joey Barton – who has described himself as “the best midfielder in England” – in the future but would only consider doing so if he ended his dispute with Newcastle and, in the long term, showed a consistent change of temperament.

“He is a good player,” Capello said. “But this moment is not a good moment to decide something about him. When a player is fighting with his club it is normal to stay outside [of that]. The relationship between a club and a player is really important.

“I think he is a good player but he is a dangerous player because sometimes on the pitch you can [end up] playing 10 v 11. He might get sent off.” Barton, 28, has been capped once for England, against Spain in 2007.